MANILA, Philippines — The Masungi Georeserve Foundation won an award from the United Nations for its efforts to fight deforestation and climate change through the restoration of the Upper Marikina Watershed in Rizal province.
The Masungi Geopark Project, the foundation’s initiative to restore and protect some 2,700 hectares of heavily degraded lands in Rizal, bagged the UN Sustainable Development Goals Action Award under the Inspire Category.
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“The team are transforming watersheds to fight deforestation through geotourism and have shown that a small group of young people, through their courage, creativity and energy, can form coalitions and bring about transformational change for the nation,” the UN SDG Action Awards said on its website.
“They flip the script by showing that tourism does not have to impact our environment negatively—it can become a powerful force for good,” it added.
Masungi trustee Billie Dumaliang dedicated the recognition to Masungi rangers and team who are “getting their hands and feet dirty to defend our remaining forests.”
“We would also like to dedicate this award to our opponents: to the quarry companies and the land grabbers, their enablers in governments, to the people who have said that we are dreaming too big, that this is the way things have always been, and that we are pushing too far,” Dumaliang said. She and her older sister Ann, also a trustee of the foundation, attended the awarding ceremony in Bonn, Germany on September 27.
“This is for you. This is a reminder that we will not stop, that we will win in the end with our energy and creativity,” she added.
The award came over a week after the foundation reported the presence of armed men who encamped within the vicinity of its conservation and allegedly planned to take over a huge portion of land in the protected area.
Police confiscated illegal firearms from the men identified as employees of Sinagtala Security Agency and were hired by a land claimant. But they were not arrested.
Masungi has locked horns with quarry operators, resort owners, and other entities who illegally occupy forestlands inside Marikina Watershed, a protected landscape.
Early this year, the foundation’s forest rangers were mauled by people suspected to be working for resorts inside the protected area.
The Upper Marikina Watershed and the Kaliwa Watershed, both located upstream of Metro Manila, serve as protection against cyclones and rains, and are home to various flora and fauna.
Both protected areas are under heavy threat of illegal logging, land grabbing, and development projects.